Ask a Librarian

Options for bringing Library content into Talon

We at Library Services want to give you many different ways to embed Library content into your Talon courses, so you can share the resources you choose directly with your students. Depending on the type of information you want to embed or link to, there are different ways to make it work. So first check the table below to see the types of content that can be embedded, then follow the link to the corresponding directions for how to do it. Please note, if you have content you would like to embed but don't see here, please let us know!

Library Tutorials in Talon

Library Services has created our first Talon-based tutorial for faculty to use in their own courses. It is a tutorial on plagiarism, that includes interactive videos, text-based instruction, and short quizzes to check understanding. If you have any questions about this tutorial, or need any help copying it into your own Talon courses, please contact librarians Kate Hess or Ryan Strempke-Durgin.

DIRECTIONS

Once you have access, the Library Tutorials course will show up in your list of Talon courses, and you may preview the plagiarism tutorial content. To copy content in your own course, continue with the following steps:

From your own course where you want to assign a Library Tutorial module, go to “Course Admin.”

Click on “Import/Export/Copy Components.”

Select “copy components from another course/org unit” and click on the button “search for offering.”

Search for “library tutorials”, then select it and click “add selected.”

Please note: Because you have made a copy of the content and put it in your course, you are now free to edit or delete any portions of each tutorial, customizing to the needs of your students. Also, we may occasionally make updates to the tutorial, and will email you a notification in that case.

Linking to Articles in Library Databases

To place a direct link to a database article into Talon (or any other website, PowerPoint, etc.), it is essential that you use the persistent URL or "permalink" to that article, which each database will provide you with. This permalink can then be copy and pasted just like any other link. Please note, copy and pasting from the browser's address box will result in a broken link. If you have any trouble finding the permalink for an article, see the examples below for several of our most used databases, or contact the Library for help.

To point your students directly to an article, e-book or e-book chapter in a database, always look for the persistent URL or "permalink" provided by the database. Do not copy and paste from your browser's address box. Listed below are directions of linking articles from major databases.

EBSCOhost databases: Click the article title and look for “Permalink” on the right of your screen.

Newsstand (ProQuest)

Click "Details" below the article title.

Then look for “Document URL” at the bottom of your screen.

Literature Resource Center, Gale Virtual Reference Library, and Opposing Viewpoints: Scroll down to the very bottom of the page, and copy the URL as it is given in the citation.

CQ Research: Click the article title and look for “Document URL” at the bottom of your screen. (Off-campus prefix needed. See step #2 below.)

Many databases, such as EBSCOhost and ProQuest automatically add the proxy prefix ( https://resources.kirkwood.edu/login?url= ) in their persistent URLs. If you do not see the proxy information, you need to manually add it. See the example below.

You can create a link in almost any section of Talon. However, the links tend to work best, and can be most easily found again later if you need to change or test the link, if you add it as its own new item with the "Upload/Create", "Create a Link" function.

4. Always test your link before making it available to students!

Linking to Ebooks

You can link an ebook in EBSCOhost directly into your website, Powerpoint presentation, email, or Talon.

Linking to an entire book

Click on the "Permalink" link along the right side of the book's detailed record screen then copy and paste the URL.

Linking to a chapter or a page of an ebook

Go to the first page of the chapter or section you want to link to.

Click the Permalink button along the right side of the page (the icon of chain links)

Copy and paste the URL to share.

Using LOR (Learning Object Repository) in Talon for Library content

Library Services has created content pulled from our online help guides (LibGuides) for faculty use in their Talon courses, through the Talon LOR (Learning Object Repository). If you have any questions about this process, need any help, or have suggestions for additional Library content for the Talon LOR, please contact Kate Hess or Ryan Strempke-Durgin at the Library.

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DIRECTIONS

From your Talon course, create or go to the module where you want to place the Library help guide.

Click the “Upload / Create” button, and select “Add Object from LOR”

In the search box type in “Library” to see all available learning objects created by the Library, or search for the topic you want (e.g. MLA or APA).

You may click on the title of an object to preview it, or you can select it by clicking on the circle. Then click “Next”.

Talon then gives you 3 options for how to use the content. We recommend the “Dynamic Link to Newest Version”. This means that if the Library needs to update any content in the object, yours will also be automatically updated. You may alternatively choose to “Copy as Content,” which allows you to make changes to the content to fit the needs of your students.

Click “Next.”

Click “Create Topic.” The learning object should now be showing in your course.

Custom Homepage Widgets in Talon

To embed homepage widgets in your course, you must use the “Custom Home Page” option in Talon, which gives you access to many widgets, only a few of which are related to Library resources:

If you don't already use the Custom Home Page option for your course(s), follow the directions in the Talon Instructor Training course in Talon, Module 3: Course Homepage and Widgets, and see both “Customizing your Homepage” and “System and Custom Widgets.” You must repeat this process for each course where you want to use homepage widgets.

As of this writing, there are 5 widgets for Library resources:

“Library Contact,” which adds an “Ask a Librarian” live chat box, along with contact phone numbers and emails for Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Campus Libraries.

“Library Search,” which adds the WorldCat search box, just as it appears on the Library Homepage.

Two different versions of links to Library subscription databases: “A to Z List” (alphabetical list of all databases) and “Library Databases” (a link to the list of all databases plus direct links to the 7 most popular databases).

“Library Guides,” a box with links to our most used LibGuides pages, as well as a link to the LibGuides search page.

Embed Codes for Course Content Widgets

This method of embedding widgets into your Talon courses has you copy and paste the embed code for the widgets you want to use into a module or sub-module description.

1. On Talon, create a module or sub-module where you want a widget to show up. In order for the widget to show up on the Course Content page (and not require students to follow a link to see it) only one widget per module or sub-module may be embedded.

2. In the Course Content table of contents along the left side of the screen, click on the name of the module or sub-module you just created, then click below the title of the module, on "Add a description..." Now click on the "Insert stuff" button that looks like this:

and click on "Enter Embed Code."

3. Now come back to this Faculty Servcies LibGuide page, and select, then copy, the embed code for the widget you want to embed. The sample images below show what the widget will look like, and the embed code is what you copy and paste.

4. Now go back to your Talon page and paste into the "Enter Embed Code" box. Click "Next," then "Insert," then "Update."

Available Widgets

Please note: You can create a widget from any box or page of content anywhere within the Library's LibGuides pages. Just email Kate Hess or Ryan Strempke-Durgin in the Library and let us know what box you want embedded in your Talon, and we'll send you the embed code.